“The Gods can damn those boys, where did they go last night?” Jane looked out the window at the forest, whose skyline had just started to light up with the first rays of dawn.

She was standing in the kitchen over a pot of soup that she had cooked last night, and had long gone cold. She sighed and turned around to see Bella, who had her head down on the dining room table in the next room. She had stayed up all night to greet Leon when he would come home, and hopefully show how useful she could be to the boy.

Jane personally didn’t see the need for someone of her lineage to ‘prove herself,’ but little Bella was too stubborn. It just so happened that when she felt she had been wronged, she also felt the need to prove herself to her oppressors instead of ignoring them and carrying on with her life.

Jane went wide-eyed as she felt a shift in power that originated up the plateau and culminated in front of her mansion’s door. WIth a weary scowl on her face, she picked up her walking cane that doubled as a staff, and walked to the front door to face whatever had come to her home.

---

He was surrounded by darkness, not a single sight nor sound was present in the empty abyss. He began to walk aimlessly, his breathing the only sound as his footsteps were silent. A blue light illuminated behind him, but he turned around to find nothing. As he kept walking, a growing sense of unease began to form in his stomach.

A blue light flashed behind him again, but this time he knew better than to waste his time turning around. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain that started in his arm, and slowly traveled it’s way down through his body.

He looked down in surprise at his decaying flesh, then back up to gaze into the void once more. Only, this time, the void responded. Cold blue eyes pierced the darkness and shone on a black scythe that inched closer and closer towards his neck.

Zeek screamed at the apparition in the abyss. The reaper had come for his life, and he didn't feel like waiting.

---

“Shut up!” A firm slap knocked Zeek out of the cot he was resting on and subsequently woke him up.

“Champion of the Goblins my ass, you’re the champion of getting your sorry ass handed to you on a silver platter, more like.” Zeek turned his ringing head towards the sharp tongue that was pointed at him, and gasped as he saw Hazeel looking down on him.

“Rgh! It was your fault to begin with, if you hadn’t-” His speech was interrupted as his face unexpectedly met with the earth.

“What the?” He tried to rise yet again, then the sharp pain in his arm jolted him back to reality. He had lost. He had lost his pride, his legacy, and even his left arm. He pounded his fist into the floor, and recoiled once again as the phantom pain from his missing arm rebounded throughout his system.

He screamed once more, and this time Hazeel’s foot planted itself into the back of his head, and pressed his forehead into the ground. “Shut up you moron! I’m the one that wants to scream here. Everything would have just been fine if you had backed off when I told you to, but no!”

She held her head in her hands while her attendants shuffled around her, transforming the makeshift cot into an office with a desk, chair, and seat across from it for Zeek.

She exhaled loudly and got off of his head. Walking around to the desk, she picked up a piece of paper and read it over while the attendants stood Zeek up, brushed him off and sat him in the chair opposite of the village chief.

“This will do.” She threw the parchment into his lap, and Zeek carefully picked it up with his right hand, this time being careful to mind his recent injury. He unfurled it to find four words on the page: ‘To the next chief.’

Zeek was floored and fumbled his way through his next sentence. “H-h-hazeel! Are you finally s-s-saying yes to me!” The conqueror gave him a look of disgust.

“Of course not you idiot, but I have no choice in the matter now. To avoid a battle with the kingdom, and the complete annihilation of this settlement, I had no choice but to give myself up to that Spellblade.” She sounded annoyed, but a small smile found its way onto her face despite herself.

Zeek’s jaw dropped. “No way!”

“That’s the case. He assured me he wouldn’t need my services anytime soon, and told me to train you to be the next chief. I personally wouldn’t have picked you, but unfortunately you’re the one best suited for the job.”

Hazeel stood up from the desk, and once again her attendants went to work rearranging the room, removing the desk and Hazeel’s seat before bringing in training dummies made of straw while leaving Zeek in his own seat.

“What are these for?” Zeek asked curiously, causing Hazeel to rub her temples.

“You really aren’t the sharpest spear, are you? Before we make the official announcement, we need to get you back into fighting shape. The tribes of the plateau respect brain or brawn, and while you’ve never had the first you’re currently lacking the second.”

The former champion frowned and grit his teeth. “What, so what do you expect me to do? Train with you who has both her arms and no idea how my current situation feels!?”

Hazeel smiled gently. “OF COURSE NOT, IDIOT!” Zeek reeled back from her yell, and scrunched up into the small chair, which would have been comedic if it weren’t so sad.

“They’ll be teaching you.” Hazeel gestured to the front of the tent, and several goblin warriors walked in.

“But… but they’re-!”

“Exactly.” Hazeel nodded her head. “They’re crippled, just like you.”

---

Jane opened the door to find Leon and Brago standing there, the latter of which was already half-asleep on his feet.

Leon studied her figure, from her feet, to her chest, and then the cane she held pointed in the direction of the two.

“Mind putting that down? Also, if you could guide Brago back to his room, that would be great.” Leon didn’t wait for her reply and brushed past her, storming into the kitchen.

She cursed and took the sleepy Brago by the hand, walking him up the stairs and into his bed before returning back down to the kitchen.

There she found Leon over reheated soup and filling a bowl for himself. He took a sip and smiled weakly. “Thanks for the cooking, as always.”

Jane didn’t know why but he seemed… different. “Leon.” She called and sat next to him on the floor. “What in the Gods names happened up there?”

Leon sat there, staring at his soup for a long minute before responding, “Stupidity, bloodshed, and a contract.”